electronics

Panasonic and Sanyo are discussing a buyout. The Japanese consumer-electronics rivals started talks Friday that could create one of the biggest electronics companies in the world before the end of the year.

Sanyo's top shareholders include Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking. The three banks would double their 2006 investment if Panasonic pays the $6.2 billion analysts estimate Sanyo is worth. The acquisition would be the largest ever in the Japanese consumer-electronics industry.

It may not be one of the burning social issues of our time -- neither presidential candidate made it part of their stump speech -- but Internet retailer Amazon.com has announced that it is taking a stand on "wrap rage."

Amazon is launching "Frustration-Free Packaging" (FFP), an initiative to reduce the use of plastic "clamshell" packaging and plastic-coated wire ties that are often used to secure unopened toys and electronics.

Will Panasonic, already the world's largest maker of plasma televisions, become the top electronics company in Japan by revenue?

A successful deal would put it in the top spot.

The heads of Panasonic and Sanyo Electric have agreed in principle to a deal that would see Panasonic take over Sanyo, three people familiar with the matter said Sunday.

Consumer electronics chain Circuit City is implementing plans for massive layoffs and closing 155 stores this week. The technology retailer is joining a list of other businesses that have had to close their doors because of a weakening economy and a less-promising holiday shopping season.

Recycling used electronics is pretty important – arguably more important than recycling paper and plastic. E-waste is loaded with toxic heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium. Such chemicals are bad for the environment, but worse for the impoverished citizens of developing countries who all too often need to earn their living by crudely mining valuable metals out of our discarded computers, TVs and cell phones.

Besides the Presidential election, there's another big political battle brewing in Washington on Nov. 4. This one is over the airwaves that are used to deliver communications signals to consumers across the country, and like the race for the White House, this contest has created a big divide.

Toshiba, Japan's largest chip maker, reported a quarterly loss on Wednesday after the global economic slowdown aggravated a glut in the market for chips used to store data in consumer electronics.

The net loss was yen26.8 billion, or about $275 million, in the three months that ended Sept. 30, compared with a yen25 billion profit a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell 7 percent to yen1.88 trillion.

Toshiba joins Samsung Electronics and Sony among electronics makers reporting lower earnings this month.

There's a new way of wiring your lights...and it doesn't involve wires. Pretty freakin' cool actually. Right now, your light switch has a physical connection to your light. When you flip the switch, a circuit is completed and the light turns on.
But connecting every light to every light switch basically requires twice as much wiring for a house's lighting system. That's just dumb.

In Japan's landfills, there is enough gold, silver and platinum to propel the country into the top tier of resource-producing countries - along with Australia, Brazil and Canada.
The millions of electronics that are discarded each year, including televisions, mobile phones, MP3 players and computers, have created so-called “urban mines.”

Extended producer responsibility helps recover materials safely and promote cleaner design. Some people claim that asking manufacturers to take on the burden of being environmentally responsible for their own obsolete products is unfair, but manufacturers are the ones that are in the best position to affect the environmental impacts of their products.